What Nonprofits Need to Learn About Interviewing Candidates
My Journey Through 50+ Social Sector Interviews
When social sector organizations aren’t intentional about their interview process, they fail to leverage their greatest recruitment asset: their mission.
As a college senior last spring, I commenced a long and arduous job hunt, searching for the “perfect” job for me in the social sector. My most important criteria were that I wanted to work for an organization:
- Whose mission aligned with my personal values, and where I could make a difference.
- Where my position would allow me to enjoy the work I was doing day-to-day.
- Whose work culture made me feel positive and motivated at the office.
My goal was to do good, and to enjoy doing it. But while I was working hard and felt I had done the best I could do in college to pursue my passions and perform highly, the job interview process at many points made me feel unintelligent and disrespected. I found myself wondering if I hadn’t done “enough” in college, and really struggling to find balance between two seemingly conflicting interests. On the one hand, I wanted to come across as “serious” and “professional” about the work of the organizations I was interviewing with. On the other hand, I didn’t…
